Stanzel gained international renown for his transplantation of retinal pigment epithelium into the subretinal space of rabbits – a first in a large-eyed animal model, followed closely by successful transplantation into pigs. Recently, he and his colleagues at the Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC), the Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI), the NEI and Tampere University, Finland, have successfully created a non-human primate model platform, guided by intraoperative OCT, for stem cell-based RPE replacement therapy evaluation – bringing this modality a step closer to clinical use. He credits his time at SNEC/SERI as critical to this development. His next goal is to initiate a European cell replacement therapy clinical trial.

One nominator said, “Boris is one of the most gifted researchers around, and his work is truly ground-breaking. I am sure his monkey work evaluating the surgical macular dynamics of cell replacement strategies in macular degeneration will prove to be an important milestone in stem cell research.”